June 22, 1996
On the day you were born, the universe did what it has always done best: transformed chaos into beauty.
North to the Moon's Pole
Birthday · June 22, 1996
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed
Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.
Date & occasion only
Change the year
APOD published June 22, 1996. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
This image is from the voyage of the intrepid Galileo spacecraft as it passed above the Moon's north pole on its long journey to Jupiter. It was made over 60 years after Admiral Byrd became the first to fly over the Earth's north pole. Within a superposed frame of lattitude and longitude lines much of the Moon's familiar face, dominated by smooth dark mare, is brightly lit. Near the pole itself, the harsh shadows reveal a rugged, cratered lunarscape.